Proposal would add San Marcos wedding venue, possible hotel

SAN MARCOS  Before they get hitched to the idea, applicants proposing a San Marcos banquet hall, wedding facility and possible hotel will ask for feedback during a public workshop set for 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

Listed as Montiel Nordahl Corp., the applicants want to build the project on a grass-covered lot that had previously been approved for offices. The empty lot borders state Route 78 to the south, Montiel Road to the north and a strip of modest, single-story homes to the east. It’s a few blocks east of the busy Nordahl Marketplace.

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Jason Simmons, a representative for the applicants, said the project would boost city sales tax revenue and provide much needed space for wedding and corporate events.

“There’s not a lot of reception halls in San Marcos,” said Simmons, a land use consultant based in the city.

The applicants have yet to submit a formal proposal to city planners.

But with the project’s potential to affect traffic and parking in the surrounding neighborhood, the city’s planning department encouraged the applicants to gather comments at a public workshop. The meeting will be in the city’s Valley of Discovery Room, next to the council chambers, at 1 Civic Center Drive.

Should the project go forward, it would need approvals from the San Marcos Planning Commission and City Council.

Montiel Nordahl Corp. is buying a 1.63-acre chunk of the empty lot, which is 3.26 acres altogether, Simmons said.

The applicants are considering purchasing the rest of the land, and plan to formally ask the city to allow a hotel on it, Simmons said. Few details about the hotel plans were immediately available, but the consultant said it would not be a towering structure.

Simmons declined to name members of the Montiel Nordahl Corp. He said they have developed another banquet hall in San Diego County, are county residents and will attend Thursday’s workshop.

A previous owner gained city approval several years ago to build 25,000 square feet of offices on the lot. When the economy sank, the project went under and Bank of America now owns the land, Simmons said.

During the approval process, Simmons said he expects the city will impose conditions to address concerns about noise and traffic.

Shannon Turman, who lives across from the property on Leora Lane, said traffic is her biggest worry. That and “having hundreds of people all looking at you,” from across the street, she added.

“I enjoy having a lot that’s empty. I don’t have to worry about neighbors. The cats love it,” she said.

Gary Emblem, who also lives on Leora, said he’s fine with the plans, as long as limits are placed on traffic using his street.

Simmons, the project consultant, said Leora, now a dirt road, would be improved as part of the project.

For more information, the city encouraged the public to call Norm Pedersen at its planning division at (760) 744-1050, extension 3236, or to visit its development services counter during the week between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Other San Marcos wedding venues include Green Gables Wedding Estate and Old Richland Schoolhouse, both on Woodland Parkway. A previous lease holder at the schoolhouse temporarily left seven couples in the lurch in July 2011 when it abruptly shut its doors, without returning deposits. Later that year, San Diego Special Events Co. took over the lease and honored the couples’ wedding reservations.